One night (to face your fears)
by ExplainingTheIndescribable
Summary: Cartinelli. Everybody has fears. Angie faces her for Peggy. And it works out pretty well for the both of them... There is a plot.


Angie sat in the living room, going on the latest script she had been sent and not taking any of it in. She was rather too distracted by a certain English agent, or rather the lack of her. It was gone eight, and Peggy still hadn't come home. Perhaps if she'd had better reading material, or tonight wasn't the night she was planning to somehow ask her housemate out on a date, she would've been less restless.

As it was, she let the script drop from her hand and onto the floor before throwing her arm across her eyes dramatically. At this rate her stress levels were going to give her a heart attack before she'd even managed to say one word to Pegs. Deciding Dutch courage was in order, she rose and walked over to the decanter, pouring herself a single whiskey. Then she thought better of it, and made it a generous double.

Drink in hand and a semi-guilty smile on her face was how Peggy found Angie when she walked in about five minutes later.

"Rough day?"

Angie closed her eyes briefly and enjoyed the teasing lilt of her voice.

"Like you wouldn't believe. I tell ya', they don't tip enough to be as rude as they are" She spied English still hadn't moved out of the doorway, and was yet to make herself comfortable. "How was your day?"

Peggy was about to offer a half-hearted reply and retire to her rooms, she was pretty sure she had pulled the fresh stitches in her arm on the way home and the blood seeping slowly through her shirt would just invite awkward questions she couldn't answer, but she didn't get that far. All at once the lights blew out. Every single bulb.

Left in the pitch dark, Angie clutched her whiskey a little tighter, and Peggy sighed. She knew Angie didn't like the dark, and she couldn't leave her housemate alone and terrified down here, she just wasn't mean enough to do that to her. So instead, she simply sighed

"There should be some candles in the top drawer next to your elbow, would you mind?"

Angie gulped, and felt blindly for the wood.

At the sound of a small thump and muttered Italian swearing, Peggy knew she'd found it and smiled. Although she would never dream of telling the other woman, Angie speaking Italian made Peggy a little weak at the knees. It was the way she spoke it, like she was weaving a beautiful spell… Peggy snapped back to attention at the note of fear that had crept into her tone when she had received no response from the pitch-black room. Peggy hadn't even noticed Angie was softly calling her name.

"Ahem, yes, I'm here."

She soon felt something soft brush her elbow, and nearly aimed a punch towards the area on reflex, before realising it was most definitely only Angie seeking comfort through proximity, and not a Russian assassin, or anyone else who could wish either of them harm.

"There was only one candle left"

Angie arm latched into the crook of her own, brushing the fresh bullet wound in the process. With a sharp intake of breath, she was glad of the dark for a moment because it meant Angie did not see the grimace of pain on her face from the contact.

"Hey Peg's… why's your arm wet?"

She trailed her fingers back over the sore, bloody patch and Peggy took her hand instantly

"It's nothing…" Dammit. With only one candle… They were going to have to stay in the same room. As good as Peggy was, even she couldn't stitch skin back together in the dark. Angie was going to see it

"It's… sticky?" There was a brief pause before her usual slightly mischievous tone returned "Have you been having pie without me? Jeez English, at least get it in your mouth not down your front…"

"I'm perfectly capable of eating pie thank you… Not that I would without you" She teased in turn

Peggy turned and started leading them towards the staircase and their bedrooms.

"Now what it is really?"

"Whatever do you mean Angie?"

"English, your whole arm is tense and you won't let me near it."

"It's nothing really, don't worry about it"

Peggy could feel the look Angie gave her at that, the same look mother's give their child when all the cookies have been eaten just before dinner and one small person has chocolate all over their fingers. Angie had actually learnt it from her mother on one such occasion. She never listened to what her brother said was okay to do ever again after that, not without checking it with ma or pa first.

"It's just a small cut"

"Then quit acting like a three year old and let me take a look-see"

Peggy had guided them to her own bedroom by this point, and was sitting on the bed, rummaging around her bedside drawers for the box of matches she was sure she had placed in there... Angie was not far behind, having stopped to close and lock the door behind them. Just in case.

"Angie, it's fine…"

"English. You're hurtin', I can tell. For once, would you let somebody do somethin' for you?"

Peggy did not respond for a moment, revelling in her triumph of finding the matches. She lit the sole candle, before placing it on the holder on top of the drawers.

"Oh thank god"

Angie kicked off her shoes and sat on the bed next to Peggy, fixing her with her best 'no-nonsense' look

The agent sighed "You're going to relent by any chance, are you?"

Angie simply shook her head.

Peggy twisted on the bed, so Angie could see her injured arm.

"Bloody hell English! That is not nothing… that looks like it was made by a bullet?!"

"Work accident…" Well she wasn't lying.

The English woman attempted an innocent look, which Angie didn't buy.

"Yeah, I'm sure it gets crazy with all the guns they need to have at the phone company…"

Peggy nearly laughed at Angie's tone, before stifling it into a cough and muttering very quietly

"You'd be surprised…"

"Okay, where's your first-aid kit?"

"Top shelf on the wardrobe, but no Angie I can-"

The young woman was already searching through the top shelf before Peggy had the chance to insist that she was perfectly self-sufficient.

"A-ha" She tugged the box down. It was a lot bigger than her usual one. Heck, it was a lot bigger than the one they had at the diner, and that was pretty sizeable considering how clumsy Ricky the cook could be!

"Jeez Peg, you get into a lotta scrapes workin' for that place?"

"It doesn't hurt to be prepared…"

The blood loss made her sound a lot less nonchalant than she intended.

"Christ, wait a sec…"

Peggy had gone considerably paler, and was starting to look woozy

Angie practically ran to the ensuite, and frantically looked for something that could hold water. First thing she saw was Peggy's toothbrush holder cup.

"Well, it's something…" Taking the toothbrush out she rinsed the cup, filled it with water and ran back

"Here, drink this…"

She spied some painkillers in the first-aid kit and popped them out of the packet, still holding Peggy's toothbrush in her hand

"and take these"

"Mmmm…"

She swallowed the pills easily enough, and drank nearly half the water much to Angie's relief

"I'm fine! I'll be just fine… I just need to have a little sleep…"

"Oh no Pegs, Peggy don't you dare…"

Angie didn't know if she should let Peggy sleep. Were you meant to let injured people sleep? What if this is one of those times you have to keep them awake or she'll never wake up?

That last thought made Angie's made up for it. It wasn't worth the risk.

"Hey Pegs…. Hey Peggy, look at me. Come on English, stay with me here"

Angie looked at the wound, bleeding on to her bedclothes… oh Peggy would not be happy about that come morning…

She rolled Peggy onto her unwounded side, picked up what she needed from the kit, and started trying to thread the needle.

Peggy giggled, Angie looked adorable with her concentration face on, with her eyes nearly crossed, tongue sticking out and all. Even if her hands were shaking.

"Gotcha!"

She made quick work of fixing Peggy up, and Peggy was a fairly complacent patient through it all.

Now, she had painkillers, water, she wasn't bleeding any more… Angie felt it in her bones that there was something she was missing…

"Hungry…"

Yep, it was food. Pegs would need her energy.

Except, the food was downstairs.

A whole floor away.

In the dark.

Angie gulped and looked at Peggy, who was slightly drooling.

Wow, she really must be out of it, Angie figured.

Well, there was no way English was gonna make it.

And she couldn't leave Peggy in the dark, she'd fall asleep…

Steeling her nerves, she took a moment to say prayers to anybody who was listening, before kissing Peggy on the cheek for luck and creeping out of the door.

She was as good as blind, the moon was on the other side so the windows could provide no light. Only spooky noises and creepy shadows. As fast as she dared to, Angie ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Grabbing the turkey salad she'd made for her own lunch tomorrow, as well as the entire chocolate cake they had been saving for when Jarvis and Anna visited, and prepared to sprint back. She paused only once more, to grab a bottle of what she hoped was Schnapps, and bolted right back up the stairs in a heart-beat. She didn't dare listen to any of her senses. Anything out of place would most likely give her a paralysing heart-attack, and most likely, turn out to be nothing.

Peggy was half-asleep when Angie crept back in, blood pounding in her ears, heart thudding like she'd seen a werewolf. She took a breath. She had made it. She had made it back to the candle and to Peggy and everything was going to be just fine.

She let herself release the rest of the breath she hadn't known she was holding since the moment she left the room, and her heart left her throat in favour of returning to its usual resting spot.

"You faced the dark, for me?"

"It's nothing English, really"

Her still racing heart-beat told another story

"Angie…" Even in her state of blood-loss, she was touched.

She pulled Angie into her arms and sat, close enough for comfort, eating turkey salad with their fingers, and then small bites of chocolate cake. Angie washed it down with a healthy gulp of what did in fact, turn out to be Schnapps, only letting Peggy have a small sip. She had to take care of her patient after all.

When they were both feeling a lot better, they had somehow ended up lying together on the bed, Angie curled in toward Peggy, with one arm draped over her waist and another tucked up beside her.

She felt completely safe.

They had been lying this way for a while, cosy and warm in the candlelight, talking of little things and telling small stories when there was a lull in the conversation. And without knowing quite why she was so curious, and still admiring the braveness of her housemate to face her fear alone, Peggy asked her

"Why are you scared of the dark Angie?"

"Everybody's afraid'a somethin'"

The reply was instant. Rehearsed. Peggy knew a line that had been spoken so many times before it could come off as a dismissal, she gave them herself all the time. So Peggy didn't push her. Everyone was entitled to their secrets. But after a few moments, Angie changed the game

"During the war, my brother served. He was a Captain in the 53rd fleet. He survived. Well… kinda. I mean came back, alive… but he was… not right."

Angie took a deep breath and buried a bit further into the strong, warm arms she was already pretty tightly snuggled into.

Peggy kissed the top of her head and loosely started stroking down the soft waves of her hair almost absentmindedly as she listened.

She knew what Angie meant.

"War takes a terrible toll. A lot of soldiers experienced combat exhaustion. He wasn't alone."

Angie let out a bark of laughter.

"The things he did afta'? Who he became… By god I hope he was."

Peggy didn't want to push, but that was… quite a thing to say, and not like Angie at all.

"I never really liked the dark, but Tommy, my brother always used ta say that I gotta be brave. So I tried, for him. Before he left I mean. After he returned… there was one night, I mean he was always havin' nightmares, after he came back, never had 'em before. Not one in my living memory! But after the war… it was every night. He would scream and shout and it frightened me half to death the first time he did it. And most every time after that. My over-protective older brother, always looked out for me, screaming like he was being tortured or somethin'"

Angie didn't like to dwell on that thought long

"It would'a scared anyone half way to the grave… Anyways, this one night, he starts sleep-walking. A'course none of us knew it at the time. To us, he was just a-wandering around the house in his pyjamas, cool as you please at 3 o'clock in the mornin'! Ah he was just rustling around, until I tugged his sleeve to try wake him… Bat me right off he did, sent me flyin' to the other side of the kitchen. Must'a thought he was under attack or somethin'. Next thing you know, he's a-yelling again. Screaming like the devil himself up and possessed him until ma whacked him with a cricket bat. He woke up and started cryin' at what he'd done, but I knew it weren't really him, ya know? So the next night, ma made me sleep on the floor in her room with pa, and we're all awake waitin' for… the other shoe to drop I guess. But there was nothing. No screams, no yellin', just the crickets a'chirpin' away in the little garden out back."

The candle flickered, but neither really noticed. Angie's eyes were unfocused as she gazed at the ceiling, reliving it all as though the scene had played out five minutes ago, rather than the year it really had been, and Peggy was transfixed by Angie.

"Everybody drifted off ta sleep, and then we heard it. A single bang. A'course I was up and out before anybody had the chance to put two and two together."

Her hands twisted together, fiddling with a fraction of the duvet.

And when I got to Tommy's room… It was dark. I could see him at desk, it was right by the window, and I was so relieved"

If Angie had the capacity to smile bitterly, she would have done so then.

"I went over, makin' sure he's properly asleep this time before he tries to take me out again! So I shake his hand, whispering his name, but he doesn't respond. So I knock him on the shoulder, like he always used ta do when I was little and he didn't wanna embarrass himself hugging his little sister in public, and he still won't wake. But then the lights turn on, and when I turn to the doorway, ma's staring at me like I've grown a third eye, so I ask her 'what?' and she's say anything, she just stares and stares at me and then Tommy, and covers her mouth with her hand. I look back at Tommy, and I see why she's staring. There's a red, gaping hole in the back of his head. And I'm staring at this hole, and it doesn't make sense, ya know? He's my big brother. He taught me how to take care of myself, and how to hook any guys that gave me trouble in the neighbourhood, and now… he's just… gone."

Fat tears fell welled in both unfocused and transfixed eyes

"Turns out, he was a very good shot. Died almost instantly the docs said, he wouldn't of felt any pain. Nearly gave my ma a heart-attack though. Ya see, standing so close so soon after… well the blood was on my hands and all over my pjs. Ma said later, the reason she was staring so much was on account of how I looked like some angel of death, standing of his corpse all covered in blood like I was."

Their gazes crossed, and Angie coughed slightly, quickly coming back to herself. She hadn't plan to reveal so much.

"Anyways, that's why I'm scared of the dark. After all that… and that night especially… I just don't trust things I can't see"

A muddle of thoughts was exploding through Peggy's mind… mainly poor, darling Angie… she thought she had been lucky, and got her brother back, only to find the man he was hadn't survived. He was just another shell hollowed out by the horrors in the field… And then to lose any semblance of him entirely. She had lost him twice over. Sometimes she forgot how badly civilians had suffered. Through friends and family… there was no such thing as unharmed soldiers in war.

Peggy's hand stilled and for a moment as the emotions threatened to spill from her eyes, brushing any tears away before they could truly form

"I am so sorry"

Without another thought she pulled Angie into a tight embrace, and held her as tears dropped onto her shoulder.

Without thinking too much about it, without thinking about more than offering her best friend any comfort she could, she kissed her.

Peggy pressed her own lips to Angie's gently, and was gone again in a moment.

Angie looked at her, confused for a mere moment

Long enough for Peggy to start freaking out behind her poker face

"I just…"

And then soft, pink lips were pressed to her own once more

Her mouth opened in surprise, and after a moment Angie took the opportunity to turn it into a French kiss, touching Peggy's tongue with her own, before biting the very same lips she had been wanting to kiss for months, and eliciting a groan that was a turn on beyond what she had even dreamed.

And then those lips were pulling away

"Angie…" Peggy rested her forehead on Angie's gently "I don't want to take advantage… you're vulnerable, and I don't want you to do somethi-"

Angie held a finger to ruby painted lips. She may have had an… interesting evening, but it had been cathartic. Being able to talk about her brother and what had really happened, not the lie that her family told to 'honour his memory', and to receive no judgement in return, only open comfort, was… freeing. And she had known she'd wanted Peggy for a long time before tonight, there was not a snowball's chance that past grief was the only reason she was doing this. Now, just to make sure Peggy felt the same way…

"Is that the only reason you want to stop doing this?"

Peggy nodded, hesitating slightly at what she it implied she was confessing to Angie

Angie simply smiled, her usual dazzling smile, which Peggy thought was all the more brilliant tonight, because it was just for her.

"Shut up English"

Angie tipped Peggy's chin up to capture her lips once again.

The kiss was broken far too soon, somehow, both had trouble trying not to smile.

Turning her attentions to Angie's neck, Peggy soon found out more things she loved about her, as she kissed her way down and discovered how it made Angie moan when she left a small hickey on her collarbone, and how those moans grew louder when she teased a hard nipple with her finger and then tongue.

Moans soon turned to screaming Peggy's name, before only being able to whisper it repeatedly in exhaustion as her lover started kissing her way back up Angie's front, paying special attention to every part of her on the way in a haphazard trail. When she finally reached her mouth, it was a sweet, gentle kiss Peggy left on her lips, only to have Angie tug her back in and kiss her hard, pulling her as close to her as humanly possible.

When Angie finally loosened her hold, Peggy leaned back slightly and nudged Angie's nose with her own playfully.

"Ready for round two?"

Peggy didn't really stop to wait for a response, already kissing along her jawline and down her neck once more and as her hand brushed slick folds.

In the early hours of the morning, they finally both succumbed to sleep.

They were feeling a lot more sore the next morning, lying naked together as the sun's rays gradually began illuminate the curtains. Wrapped up in the first of what would become many mornings of contented, if exhausted, bliss.


End file.
